BaylyBlog: Out of our minds, too...

A correction and apology...

After exchanging several e-mails with a commenter named Scott, it became clear to me I'd not done a good job writing the post, "Neglecting the Weightier Provisions of the Law." Specifically, I'd written it in a way that reasonable people would conclude my purpose was to answer Scott, personally, rather than answering more generally this error common among Reformed men--and specifically, the man Scott had provided a link to in our comments.

I'm sorry I wasn't more careful in the way I wrote this post and apologize to Scott for my failure and the wasted hours it took him to show it to me. The first two paragraphs of that post have been changed to call attention to this failure and correct it. (TB)

Maps...

Son Joseph writes: "Just ran across this article describing a beautiful, hand-crafted map of the USA. Seriously thinking of buying one here. After all, we're planning on homeschooling and it really is very nicely done." The article is a good read and the cartographer's labor of love is worth patronizing.

And speaking of maps, here's a store I like a lot. (TB)

 

Rejoice each day...

Here's a good devotional Rev. David T. Myers will be writing each day. It's a ministry of the Presbyterian Church in America's Historical Center which is run by our good friend, Wayne Sparkman. Each day's reading will include short doses of church history and the Westminster Standards, plus honey from God's Word. Why not subscribe and make your commitment to read this devotional and five chapters of Scripture a day this year? It's not too late to start.

The only way Biblical Christians today can survive without going all ghettoish is to remind ourselves that every doctrine we live and teach has been boringly normal across the centuries of Church history. It's only the hirelings of our own time who call these doctrines monstrous. So subscribe to Pastor Meyers' devotional and innoculate yourself against becoming a sourpuss. We stand in full and joyful agreement with all those fathers of the faith who went before us!

(TB, w/thanks to David Mc.)

Our new blog design...

Best present of the year is this new design for Baylyblog that sons Ben Crum, Joseph, and Lucas Weeks just surprised me with. Ben did the beautiful design. Joseph is almost finished importing past content consisting of 3,450 posts, who knows how many images, 29,088 comments, and 6,107,620 words. And Lucas is building the guts on Drupal 7.

We'll be able to have many different authors and a number of other possibilities that would have made TypePad see cross-eyed. Really, TypePad got to be a pain and we've been wanting to move to a new platform for some time, now.

This is just a Photoshop pic of the design. Hope you all like it as much as I do. Let us know your thoughts.

I'm so very, very happy! 

From our house to yours...

We Armstrongs and Baylys and Crums and Ummels and Weeks are celebrating Christmas just now, and here's a picture of us today, following Lord's Day dinner. We wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year. (TB)

The things we do for love...

I need to know the recipe for the metaphors here. On the whole, it kind of makes sense. But how did a cow slip into her father's arms? And what's with the Jedi sword on the little guy's back? And surely that's a Baptist pastor. They teach this kind of thing at Southeastern, not Reformed, right? (DB: thanks, Jennifer...)

TidBITS, smartphones, music sales, newspapers, and Google+...

The only Mac publication I read is the Engsts' (not Angsts') TidBITS. If you use a Mac or iPhone, go ahead and subscribe now. It's free so just do it and you'll thank me. I've read TidBITS for maybe twenty years and it's the first place to go for accurate information on all things Apple.

The latest issue links to an interesting chart showing the relative obsolscence of Android and iPhone handsets by tracking their ability to take operating system updates. In other words the chart shows how long this or that phone is able to run the current version of its OS.

But once you look at that chart, keep clicking on Michael Degusta's other charts. Fascinating...

Heritage Conference in Vancouver, WA, this weekend...

Mary Lee and I are out in the Pacific Northwest for the 2011 Heritage Conference of Westminster PCA in Vancouver, Washington. We're looking forward to the fellowship with the brothers and sisters of Westminster and hope some of you will join us for the weekend.

Our sessions will be Friday evening, Saturday morning and early afternoon, and Lord's Day worship Sunday morning. It's Reformation Sunday this Lord's Day and our titles will be "Reformed Fathers," "Reformed Mothers," "Reformed Children," and "The Church Reformed, Always Reforming."

Here's the info. (TB)

Grandview Elementary School evacuated to ClearNote Church, Bloomington...

Grandview Elementary Evacuates to ClearNote Church from Good Shepherd Band on Vimeo.

The past several hours here at ClearNote Church, Bloomington, we've hosted four to five-hundred children from Grandview Elementary School across the street from us. Around 1:30 this afternoon the children and their cooks, aids, teachers, and Principal Lily Albright were evacuated while the Bloomington Fire Department investigated a smell that seemed to point to a gas leak.

The bathrooms are entirely inadequate but the rest is working out fine. Although it's cold and raining outside, the children and their teachers are warm and dry and happy and singing in the sanctuary (sadly, not Rock of Ages or The Son of Man Goes Forth to War).

On the next page is a pic of our Monroe Country Community School Superintendent Dr. Judy DeMuth leaving the church...

Have a little boy with your glasses...

Cleaning up our garage, I found a box of things Mother had saved from each of her children.

Those of us assaulted by my brother David's latest eyeware may be forgiven for thinking he's a Rob Bell wannabe. Actually not.

Here's a pic showing he's the first, the ne plus ultra, and he's never altered course.

Anyone surprised a few years later his band was the Ramones?

Sick. Sad. A life wasted.

And BTW, it's good I got to the box first.

E-mail addresses and a beautiful B&B in the southwest of France...

My father named me Timothy Baker Bayly. When I stop to think about that certain type of man who demands other men address him by his first initial and middle name, I tell people I'm going to switch over to "T. Baker Bayly"--and don't you forget it. Sounds as auspicious as I feel, you know? You'd buy a book that man had written, I'm sure, and invite him to give a lecture series at your local "International University."

All this to say that, despite our family being the only Baylys in the world hanging on to the original spelling, lo and behold there's another Tim Bayly in this world. And every now and then, readers of Baylyblog send him e-mails meant for me. He and his wife are patient and forward them on, but would you all please give them a break?

Adult-onset allergies...

This is helpful... (TB)

So, how many of these can you define...

The New York Times has given the world a list of the fifty most looked-up words on their web site.

Here are the top ten:

1. panegyric
2. immiscible
3. Manichean
4. inveighs
5. crepuscular
6. legerdemain
7. churlish
8. risible
9. anathema
10. recognizance

Go beyond the jump to find the full list...

That's Califorya...

Ben, Michal, and chilluns are vacationing in northern California for a week and passed on this pic of their campground with the comment, "Don't fight it, embrace it!" (TB)

From the Far Side of the WORLD (ahem, ahem!)...

This just in from our American-African correspondent, David Wegener, and the TCCA students willing to humor him. (TB)

 

The building of Christ the Word's church-house...

Christ the Word's church-house is over halfway done, now, and the lastest improvement is this exterior paint job my son Taylor helped David Abu Sara and Bob Sands--owner of the Indiana Painting Company--do. I'm sure the brothers and sisters of Christ the Word are getting excited!

May I recommend Bob Sands and his crew to you if you need commercial painting? They're excellent and I'm very pleased Taylor has this opportunity to learn the trade.

(TB: thanks for the pic, Taylor)

Gelded discourse...

For the record, the category formerly titled "feminized discourse" has been renamed "gelded discourse." This category works to open up why it's fine for men to be replaced by women in Evangelical and conservative Reformed pulpits. Our seminaries and sessions have gelded our preachers. And really, women do a much better job being women than men will ever do--hard as we may be trying.

(TB, with acknowledgement this is Doug's observation)

Tornado hits Bloomington, Bob Kaplowitz improves, and Jonathan Edwards reminds us...

Last night a tornado came through our back yard and moved on east wreaking havoc across the west side of Bloomington. Three lots down it rolled our son-in-law and daughter, Doug and Heather Ummel's, backyard playhouse which is the size of a middling storage shed and, being made all of wood, very, very heavy. A little way down Highway 45, it devastated Don and Heather Van Timmeren's yard, but left their house intact. Most of their trees are down.

Then it hit the trailer court on our son-in-law and daughter, Ben and Michal Crum's, street just a block from their house and just up the road from us. No one was seriously injured, but Michal took this movie and you can see all the trailers were moved across the court or obliterated, as were the trees. See the car flipped upside down?

Taylor's best friend, John Alberson, is a jarhead grunt just back from deployment on the Pakistani border of Afghanistan. (We praise God for his safe return!) Taylor and Jon were here when the tornado hit and went out with the chain saw and helped clear trees until 5 AM. (The storm hit about 11 PM.)

We thank God no one was seriously injured here in Bloomington, but looking at the many, many deaths in Missouri and knowing we could just as easily have been killed last night...

My mistake...

Those of you who have already read the post, One quarter of our Bibles now printed by Chinese Bible monopoly..., would have liked to know it was written by Craig French. I apologize to Craig...

Sometimes, conserving is not a good idea...

(Tim, w/thanks to Joseph) When building our house, we asked our daghter, Heather, what toilets to buy? (One of the principle privileges of being a member of the Bayly clan is being free to ask Heather anyhing you need to know.) Anyhow, in our old bathroom we'd had an Eljer bought because it had been top-rated by Consumer Reports. But it was entirely incompetent, so you see, the choice of toilets was quite important.

Heather said the only toilet to buy was a Toto, so I went on the internet just to double-check her wisdom and, sure enough, toilet forums were unanimous--Totos were IT! And they are. We bought all Totos and they were even cheap. As far as I know, they're the only brand of toilet that's been able to do the job well even while being oppressed by the federal government.

You do know why your toilet has to have a plunger nearby, don't you? And why it has to be flushed two or three times...

A request for contact information for Pastor Sam Downing...

(Tim) You'll remember Rev. Sam Downing who used to be a PCA pastor at City Church in Denver? Well, he's apparently left City Church after taking her into the liberal Reformed Church in America and man left a request earlier today for contact information here on Baylyblog. So if anyone can help him, I'd be grateful.

We should remember to pray for the tradesmen on our job sites...

(Tim) Sad news from Redeemer. Two iron workers died at one of their buildings that's been under construction for the past year and a half. By God's grace, the precast and steel work is done at Christ the Word and there were no injuries. Now may God keep the rest of the tradesmen safe.

The GC for Christ the Word was just in our office here at ClearNote Church in Bloomington to plan for our next phase of construction. When we build, we must never take safety for granted. May God be merciful to everyone involved in this accident--particularly the men's families.

Misc...

(Tim) We're hoping to make a change to another platform in the coming months. Meanwhile, we've tweaked some things in order to save us some work. The site will be less useable for past posts, but present posts and discussion should remain just as useable as before. Thanks for your understanding.

You know you're a hipster...

(Tim, w/thanks to Ben) Here's to all the Presbyterian couples who would rather die than have their daughter marry before she finishes college.

Tom Wolfe, Rolling Stone, race relations, and Rev....

(Tim) If you want to gain a deeper understanding of race in the northern urban context of these United States, I'd recommend Tom Wolfe's The Bonfire of the Vanities. Originally serialized in Rolling Stone, don't let that put you off. It's excellent, although you'll want to skip some parts you'll find unhelpful to your sanctification.

Speaking of The Bonfire of the Vanities, did you know it's not proper to write "Rev. Bayly?" On the other hand...

B&B in the Utica area...

(Tim) If you're traveling through Utica, New York, may I suggest you stay at Bob and Rita Sley's Rosemont Inn. And while you're at it, buy some of their homemade granola. It's delicious!

"When Half Spent Was the Night"

Another gem from our recent Christmas Sing-A-Long!

Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming

 

2010 Good Shepherd Band Sing-A-Long

The videos of the Church of the Good Shepherd Christmas Sing-A-Long are up! For the full list of videos, click here. Here is a sample to whet your appetite:

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

 

Walls rising...

(David) The first wall is being erected for Christ the Word's first church building in this picture which was taken at 11:30 this morning. Five wall sections have been set, as of this picture, with 150 more to go. This particular wall is an interior firewall; lacking insulation it's only six inches thick rather than the nine-inch thickness of the exterior walls. Each section weighs between 30,000 and 40,000 pounds. The crane weighs 200,000 pounds.

Tomorrow's forecast is for fierce winds--gusting to 60 mph--so I suspect we won't have further pictures of the walls being raised until Wednesday. 

I praise God for His goodness to us in so many ways as a church--not the least of which is the ministry of Mike Boles supervising this project for us as a gift of love to us, and through us, to Christ. Mike, a member of Church of the Good Shepherd, supervised CGS's new building several years ago (after selling his construction business and settling down to life as a gentleman farmer) and now with plans from CGS's project modified to meet our needs, he's overseeing what he claims will be the last large building he builds.

Mike's the man in the foreground in the bottom picture. On the right is Matt Miklovic who leads the building project for CTW.

He had to crane his neck for this shot...

(Tim) David just e-mailed me this nice pic of the 120 foot crane.

The walls are on their way...

(Tim) As I write, the semis are pouring up the highways from Indy to Toledo carrying the precast concrete panels about to be tipped up for Christ the Word's new church-house. In the end, there will be more than fifty loads and here's a pic of the first few.

May God protect and bless the workmen; and also Christ the Word as she undertakes this heavy but joyful work. I wish I could be there to watch the walls go up next week.

Phone numbers available...

(Tim) This morning, I began to think about changing our Google Voice phone number. Time flew and pretty soon I had quite a list of phone numbers currently available. With VOIP (MagicJack and Vonage) replacing POTS (Smithville Telephone Company in our area), and most people getting free calls within the US as part of their package, it makes little difference what our area codes are, now. If we use Caller ID, they help identify the caller's location, but usually we know the caller's name and don't need his location.

Anyhow, here are some interesting numbers currently available through Google Voice (at least)...

Kudos to L. L. Bean...

(Tim) It's a drag, moving. And Mary Lee and I have been privileged to have done it only once since graduating from seminary in 1983. Now, though, we just did it again. Since Aldi and Walmart are on Bloomington's west side, Church of the Good Shepherd went to Bloomington's west side; and with the church on the west side, our grandchildren (and less importantly, their parents) are on the west side; and since the grandchildren and their parents are on the west side, Mary Lee and I just moved.

So today, I'm calling and e-mailing all the people who need to know our new contact information. Who handled it the best? Far and away, it was...

Some explanation of the dearth of posts, recently...

(Tim) So where have I been? Busy.

We have been showing and trying to sell our house. May God be pleased to allow it to sell soon.

Then this past week, our youngest son, Taylor, Mary Lee, and I moved into a new house. About three years ago, it became clear to us we no longer wanted to live on Bloomington's east side (Target, Macy's, Borders, professors, and wealth), so we began looking for a home to buy out here on the west side (Lowes, Aldi, Sam's Club, and Walmart). Key considerations were our new church building being just outside city limits and all but one of our grandchildren living within a mile or two of our new home out here on the west side.

The problem was there were very few homes on this side of town built to accommodate large family and church meal fellowship by a large kitchen and dining/living room. So, you guessed it: we built our new home. It's not our dream house, but living in it is a dream and we're exhausted and happy for this gift given us by God through Mike Boles and his excellent suppliers and craftsmen. Mike and his wife, Lisa, gave us the general contracting work as a kindness to one of their pastors, and this is one of the most loving gifts we've ever received...

A note to readers...

(Tim) Several readers have written asking what happened to the comment feed on the left side of the main page? The short answer is that David and I pulled this option from our TypePad template.

So no, it's not your browser causing the problem; the feed is gone.

Personal criticism obligates commenters to identify themselves...

(Tim) David and I have often said we do not think anonymity is good, particularly on the Internet. We don't require registration before posting comments, nor do we moderate them, but we do require comments that are critical and get pointed and personal to be signed with a real first and last name. Our enforcement of this is spotty, but sooner or later we get around to it.

This weekend, we lost a longtime Baylyblog commenter because of this policy. After this commenter had engaged in many personal exchanges with Darryl Hart, and several individuals had requested that this commenter identify himself, we wrote him privately asking ourselves that he identify himself. The commenter declined. We're sorry to lose him from the discussion, but it should be noted Darryl Hart has identified himself from the very beginning. We are grateful and respect him for it.

In time, we're hopeful our veteran commenter will be back. But if he comes, he'll have to come bearing gifts of his first and last name. Until then, we'll all (everyone but Darryl, that is) miss him.

A prayer request from David Wegener...

(Tim) Please pray for Francois Murekezi's healing. This just in from David Wegener:

Serious situation at Theological College of Central Africa (Ndola, Zambia) tonight. Got a call around 7pm that one of our lecturers, Francois Murekezi (from Rwanda), was trying to get admitted to the hospital with cerebral malaria. That is very severe and people can often die within a short period of time, days or even hours.

So I decided to go over there even though visiting hours were over. (Francois) couldn't talk. Hopefully the quinine can arrest the malaria quickly.

Please pray.

If you're having trouble finding the latest comments...

(Tim) Please note: when one page of comments is full, TypePad indicates this by putting a chevron (>>) at the bottom of the page. If you click on it, you'll be taken to the next page of comments. I know it's invisible, but I can't figure out how to fix it. Sorry.

Garrison Keillor: "Nonbelievers, please leave Christmas alone..."

(Tim, w/thanks to Gary) As I remember it, Garrison Keillor became a different kind of humorist back around the time of his first or second divorce. Once, back in the late seventies, he sent Dad a note telling him he'd been a fan of Dad's writing when he was a college student. In the early nineties when I edited a compilation of Dad's "Out of My Mind" pieces from Eternity, I asked Mr. Keillor if he'd write a short intro, and he was quite gracious to do so.

But I must say I've seen a hardening of the conscience in Mr. Keillor's humor and have largely lost my appetite. Then tonight, David and I had this piece forwarded by our dear brother, Gary Knapp. Yes, it's a little bit caustic, but I had to chuckle. Also to rejoice that Mr. Keillor still confesses Christ. He grew up a Covenant child. Pray for him, will you?

By the way, the most amazing part of this piece is Mr. Keillor's complaint...

An apology, plus a note on comments in the black hole...

(Tim) Good readers, I apologize for two posts that were auto-posted this morning before they were complete. Andrew Henry's been in the trunk line for way too long and I was excited to see he had completed his post, only to see that, actually, he hadn't (as some of you noted in the comments). I'd set dates on many incomplete posts many months ago and when that date rolled around--October 31st, today--the posts went up automatically. Sorry. Shut up. My brain hurts. Sorry...

Andrew's promised he'll be back with his finished post, along with pics of his craftmanship (custom basses) very soon. We wait with baited breath.

The second post that went up unintentionally was "Historical markers..." In this case, though, I'm going to leave it up hoping readers will bring it to completion.

Finally, some (regrettably including the eminent Bill Mouser) continue to have problems with their comments getting pulled aside by TypePad's spaminator...

Private, to "CT"...

(Tim) CT: not only...

Honda's transmissions fail, corporate says "tough luck"...

(Tim) At times, it's helpful for customers to tell each other the good and bad of customer service. This enables us to make better decisions knowing other customers' experience. I've told the good of Apple Computer. This post is the bad about U.S. Honda.

Mary Lee and I bought a new Honda Odyssey in 2001. About 80,000 miles, the transmission started having trouble shifting. We took it to our dealer and they couldn't reproduce the problem. Once or twice again we had it in but they couldn't find any problem. Then, the transmissioin failed at 111,000. Because the warranty was over, we paid the labor. Because Honda was having a lot of problems with the transmissions on its Odysseys, they paid the parts. A few months later, they acknowledged these transmissions are bad and extended their transmission warranty to 109,000. But despite being only 2,000 miles beyond that limit and having had the car in several times prior to 109,000 with documented shifting complaints, Honda was unwilling to reimburse my labor costs.

This past weekend, Mary Lee, our daughter Michal, and Michal's one-year-old son Zion, made a quick trip to Pittsburgh to do some work cleaning up a relative's house. On the way home, 10 PM Friday night just outside Wheeling WV on I-70, the Odyssey's transmission went out once again and left Mary Lee, Michal, and one-year-old Zion on the side of the road...

Army helicopter school (III): Autorotation...

by John DeWalt (here's an introduction to John DeWalt)

SOLO

The big milestone in flight school is the first solo flight. The instructor finally thinks the student can survive a few minutes without the instructor at his side to prevent fatal blunders. This generally occurs soon after the student grasps the input-out principle and stops over-controlling the aircraft. The day of the student’s first solo, he goes through an initiation ceremony: he’s flung into a swimming pool (they let you remove your wallet and watch) by all the other students. Every student has pictures of that event: the wind-up, the flight, the splash, the proud, grinning, drenched student climbing out of the pool.

GROUND SCHOOL

Half a day of classroom instruction began the first day and continued throughout flight school. But the army did a surprisingly innovative thing. It used “programmed texts.” The format of these texts was to provide a page or two of information followed by several pages of multiple-choice questions. Each question was followed by instructions. If you answered a, go back to page x of the text. If you answered b, go back to page y. If you answered c, go back to page z. If you answered d, you answered correctly: proceed to the next page.

The army didn’t have much confidence in the intelligence of its students. Each new page of information was a mere nugget, and you’d have to be a moron to give a wrong answer to the multiple-choice questions. I never had to return to a prior lesson and was able to whip through those books in no time.

Did I say that half a day of classroom instruction continued throughout flight school? It didn’t, really. After about a month, we’d still spend half a day on the flight line, but we were released to do our classroom work at home with “programmed texts,” and given credit for half a day’s work.

From that point on, I had it made. Half a day flying and fifteen minutes studying. We’d be tested every day on the previous day’s homework before being released to go home and do it again; I always got 100% on the daily quiz. Then I’d have the rest of the day to explore huge distances around Fort Wolters on my Beamer. I was having the time of my life...

Army helicopter school (II): Input-out...

by John DeWalt (here's an introduction to John DeWalt)

U.S. Army helicopter flight school was an absolute blast―except for the first week or two.

I was fairly well coordinated and very highly motivated to learn to fly helicopters. But for the first couple of weeks, I began to think I’d wash out of flight school, that I’d never master the basic skills, that even though thousands of others managed to learn, I’d be one of the dolts who couldn’t fly a chopper...

Army helicopter school (I)...

by John DeWalt (here's an introduction to John DeWalt)

Flight school was one of the very best times of my life. Besides the sheer fun and challenge of learning to fly choppers, flight school was wonderful by contrast with wretched experiences before and after.

I'd recently finished college, where I'd spent four years as a very poor student, undirected, lazy, always behind in my work, on the cusp of flunking out, never happy, never satisfied. I'd devoted more time and energy to ROTC training than to my academic courses. (If that seems unbelievable, remember that it was the late '60s and the Vietnam war was in progress.) When I went on active duty, the first four months were no better. My first active duty assignment, in November, 1969, at Fort Benning, Georgia ("Home of the United States Infantry"), was to attend the Infantry Officers Basic Course (IOBC).

It was three months of hazing, freezing, regimentation, aggravation, and humiliation...

It was intended to convince us that a new second lieutenant is about the most useless item in the army inventory. It was made worse by the fact that half my class were graduates of the United States Military Academy at West Point...

Army helicopter school (Introduction)...

(Tim) As an introduction to a three-part series of posts on Army helicopter school...

One of the graces of our life has been my cousin, John DeWalt. When I was in Junior High School, John started at nearby Wheaton College. John was from Pittsburgh so the Bayly house eleven miles from Wheaton became his second home. Often he'd come out for Sunday dinner. After the kitchen was cleaned up, he'd spend the afternoon tossing a Frisbee with me. John was in Advanced ROTC and it was the sixties, so we knew John was headed to Nam.

Years later, John was present for the birth of our second daughter, Michal. He was single and childless, so holding her in his arms when she was only minutes old, he was moonstruck and asked if he could be her godfather? Of course, Mary Lee and I were very happy to say yes.

John took his work seriously. A single man, John gave himself to fatherhood with a devotion many fathers never reach. He assigned Scripture memory work...

Thankful for our new location and church-house...

(Tim) We've been in our new church-house for over a year, now, and I'm grateful to the Lord for several things about our move to this new location and this home He has provided our congregation.

First, I'm grateful He kept us from building on the site where we'd planned and broken ground for a costly architectural beauty. It was to be situated on Bloomington's southeast side where we'd purchased one of the most scenic pieces of real estate within city limits. We'd received the city's approval and seen tossed out of court a lawsuit brought by the wealthy neighbors whose homes were perched on two ridges adjoining our thirty acres of woods, a creek, and a beautiful meadow. Every obstacle seemed to have been cleared.

The work of the engineering and architectural firms was largely complete and we'd held our groundbreaking ceremony. Then, the Lord intervened, and within a short time we'd sold the property and purchased new acreage out on the city's west side. Why?

Trucking needs? Hire Atlanta Logistics and Rob Hooper...

(Tim) Sometimes, David and I use this blog for in-house news distribution to our churches and church alumni. In that connection, former Assistant Pastor of Church of the Good Shepherd, Rob Hooper, moved to Florida several years ago so he could work alongside his Dad in their family business, Atlantic Logistics. Rob and I talk every now then. And having worked with Rob in pastoral ministry and rejoiced in his hard conscientious work, it's been no surprise to watch Atlanta Logistics grow, even this past year during our nation's economic woes.

The logistics are trucking, mostly flatbed, and the company's motto is, "We're in it for the long haul." If you know and love Rob, Katherine, and their children, you'll enjoy this picture of Rob on the company's home page, along with this recent article from the Jackson Business Journal.

So, if you hire semis to haul cargo, small or big (including oversize and Defense Department loads) anywhere in the Continental US, Canada, or Mexico, allow me to recommend you take your business to Atlanta Logistics. You'll be glad you did--no question in my mind.

It's an ill wind that blows nobody some good...

(Tim, w/thanks to Scott) Being profoundly color blind, I've known it's not always a deficit. Here's a good article on the sexes, their senses and sense utilities (ahem) documenting what I've long known; that the ill wind of colorblindness does indeed blow us some good.

The story's told that, during the Second World War, the RAF had a small group of pilots they noted were quite good at spotting camouflage. When they looked into the matter, they found the thing this group of pilots had in common was that they were all color blind and had memorized the color charts to get into the RAF.

As the article puts it, "'Dichromads do better at tasks where color acts as a distraction,' in situations where spotting camouflaged objects is important, for example."

Pics and housekeeping...

(Tim) Some of you saw my mistake earlier this morning, when a picture of David and me was riding roughshod over much of the first page. I could explain how it happened, but who cares? I'm sorry for my mistake.

That said, you'll see that David and I have aged. We're five years older than we were when the last pic was taken by our dear friend, Dr. Bob Forney, and it seemed vain to leave our younger faces and physiques up when what you saw was not what you'd get. So now we're more honest. Please note that David's svelte and I'm not. This is one of the many things I envy him for (but of course, never sinfully).

I want to thank Jessica Major for our new blog photo, as well as this photo of our mother, Mary Lou Bayly. A longtime family friend, Miss Major also took a number of other excellent photos at the most recent Bayly wedding when Miss Hannah Marie Bayly (our fourth of five) and Mr. Lucas Weeks did plight their troths.

On another theme, if you want to communicate with me on any serious subject, would you please send me an e-mail rather than going through Facebook? It's important for me to keep searchable copies of all correspondence, and I prefer to do this in my e-mail program rather than Facebook. My e-mail address is tbbayly at gmail dot com.